According to the LA Times, "a source close to the project" revealed that Pine is in talks to star in the coming-of-age drama as the title character, a fugitive of the law who needs the help of two 14-year-old boys to help him get off of an island in the Mississippi (Great Expectations meets The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, anyone?). Pine's Mud would not be a classic "black" villain, but more a shade of gray, a "redemptive character...who teaches the boys as much as he learns from them." In a recent interview, Ryder likened Mud to Stand By Me and said that working with Christopher Nolan on movies like Memento and The Prestige has helped to teach him "that you can make commercially viable movies that people want to see that are still smart and sophisticated."